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niccolowilliam's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It was a bit hard for me to get through, i didnt like the writing style much and (this is the nicest way i can say this) its very obviously written by a straight man. This would all be fine but i have trouble getting over the fact that spider raped rosie and then they live happily wver after i like the concept and honestly if woman weren't written how they are in the book id probably rate it a star higher. I dont believe the author intended to fall into misogynistic tropes but growing up in a sexist society he probably did it subconsciously. No hate just my opinion
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Alcohol, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Grief, Bullying, Body horror, Rape, Murder, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Police brutality
tasto777's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Great book.
I really enjoyed Anansi Boys. In my opion it is weaker then American Gods mostly because the first half of the book kind of dragged on and i really had to push through. Especially the bit where Charlies brother takes over his life and even goes out and sleeps with his fiancee Rosie was hard for me to read. I am usually not that bothered by emotional topics but something about this felt so horrible i had to put the book away for a couple of days before i was able to continue. And there was just not too much going on despite following Charlie around. The second half was much better and you definitly got tge pay off for staying. The characters worked great together and all the bits of the world finally fell into place even before the end. The worldbuilding in the first half while a bit boring fleshed everything out so you could really dive into the book when the story started going faster.
For me thr best parts were the ones with the gods in their dimension in dreams and the stories of Anansi. This is in my opinion the thing Gaiman does incredibly great. Already in american gods you could feel the divine atmosphere in those scenes and this book has it too. It doesn't feel out of place or too much. It is just right.
But compared to american gods it has its strengths too. It is shorter and faster paced (onceyou got past the worldbuilding) and therefore it may be more interesting. It is more based in realism and has less weird or magical things happening and relies not as much on the gods doing god stuff to further the plot. And the development of the protagonist makes more sense and to be honest the protagonist in this book actually has a personality.
Would i recommend this book?
Yeah. Just as much as american gods but to dofferent people. If you enjoy fantasy but not too much, if you like interesting characters, gods, stories withing the story.. then this book is for you.
I really enjoyed Anansi Boys. In my opion it is weaker then American Gods mostly because the first half of the book kind of dragged on and i really had to push through. Especially the bit where
For me thr best parts were the ones with the gods in their dimension in dreams and the stories of Anansi. This is in my opinion the thing Gaiman does incredibly great. Already in american gods you could feel the divine atmosphere in those scenes and this book has it too. It doesn't feel out of place or too much. It is just right.
But compared to american gods it has its strengths too. It is shorter and faster paced (onceyou got past the worldbuilding) and therefore it may be more interesting. It is more based in realism and has less weird or magical things happening and relies not as much on the gods doing god stuff to further the plot. And the development of the protagonist makes more sense and to be honest the protagonist in this book actually has a personality.
Would i recommend this book?
Yeah. Just as much as american gods but to dofferent people. If you enjoy fantasy but not too much, if you like interesting characters, gods, stories withing the story.. then this book is for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Gaslighting
orlagal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexism, Sexual content, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Mental illness, and Vomit
sauvageloup's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
tricky one to rate and i'm not sure how i feel about it really
[spoilers throughout]
Pros:
- the imagination of it really was excellent. the mythic gods were brilliantly described and creepy, with the Bird Woman lurking in the field from Charlie's train and generally being very spooky
- the characters were done well, especially Daisy and Maeve, I thought. they were brought in rather randomly and then woven in to be intricately part of the story and that was very effective and satisfying. Graham Coats was a convincing and awful villain, mundane enough to be realistic but still so uneasily disturbing at the same time. Him being the human equivalent of Tiger was clever and cool
- how the story all tied up was my favourite part, very satisfying. there was a great deal of character growth in Charlie and Spider, and to a lesser extent Rosie and Daisy too. Charlie and Spider's arc reminds me of the two sisters in that children's story I read - where one reckless sister learns to be more thoughtful, and the too-careful sister learns to be a little brave. they were two parts of the same whole (loved that reveal) and they needed to come together to balance each other out a bit.
- Charlie's magic coming into itself, and him becoming more confident with it, was great to see too. he had his own sort of magic, as long as he could believe in it he could make others believe it too. and i'm glad he wasn't totally healed, ie. he still got a bit of stage fright beforehand.
- in the interview questions, Gaiman says that he never intended for it to go as dark as it does with Maeve's muder, but I'm glad it did. I enjoyed the dark punch of the Bird Woman's sinister awfulness, Tiger's violence, and Graham being frighteningly terrible. it definitely upped the stakes and gave the book a real bite - the gods felt like convincingly powerful and also callous beings.
cons:
- so I hated the start and middle of this book. Charlie was painful to read, Spider I loathed and Rosie frustrated me (and continued to throughout the book). I understand that there was a satisfying arc for the brothers' characters and Spider definitely got his comeuppance, but I still wanted to DNF it because i was so fed up with them.
- and the biggest part of why I hated it, and the point that was never dealt with, was how Spider raped Rosie. She never wanted sex with Charlie and she knew him and planned to marry him. Spider had sex with her under false presences (legally rape) and using his "miracle" magic on her. He influences her to go away or do as he wishes with no compunction and there's no consequences for this except him being a bit sad he lost her for a spell. She slaps him and its forgotten about. Charlie also makes little to no effort to save Rosie from getting duped and influenced by Spider and is only pissed that *he's* losing his fiancée. he gives absolutely no shits that she, a woman who would never have had sex with Charlie when she's herself, got magicked into having sex. Really disgusting
- I know this was written in 2005, but there are some horrible little asides or so called jokes. One I remember was saying something derogatory about people who see things, ie. making a mean-spirited joke of schizophrenia, another about cross-dressing, and there were many other places I winced. Gaiman says Anansi is meant to be about 'the revenge of the weak', but the book is still cruel to people already trodden on by society, and it's treatment of Rosie was shit as hell
- Gaiman also says in the interview notes at the back that it's a comic book. I found very little in it funny. There was one point I chuckled and that was it, I think. the jokes just didn't land for me.
so... very mixed feelings. Hated the start and middle, but the end was very satisfying and I stayed up late to finish it.
[spoilers throughout]
Pros:
- the imagination of it really was excellent. the mythic gods were brilliantly described and creepy, with the Bird Woman lurking in the field from Charlie's train and generally being very spooky
- the characters were done well, especially Daisy and Maeve, I thought. they were brought in rather randomly and then woven in to be intricately part of the story and that was very effective and satisfying. Graham Coats was a convincing and awful villain, mundane enough to be realistic but still so uneasily disturbing at the same time. Him being the human equivalent of Tiger was clever and cool
- how the story all tied up was my favourite part, very satisfying. there was a great deal of character growth in Charlie and Spider, and to a lesser extent Rosie and Daisy too. Charlie and Spider's arc reminds me of the two sisters in that children's story I read - where one reckless sister learns to be more thoughtful, and the too-careful sister learns to be a little brave. they were two parts of the same whole (loved that reveal) and they needed to come together to balance each other out a bit.
- Charlie's magic coming into itself, and him becoming more confident with it, was great to see too. he had his own sort of magic, as long as he could believe in it he could make others believe it too. and i'm glad he wasn't totally healed, ie. he still got a bit of stage fright beforehand.
- in the interview questions, Gaiman says that he never intended for it to go as dark as it does with Maeve's muder, but I'm glad it did. I enjoyed the dark punch of the Bird Woman's sinister awfulness, Tiger's violence, and Graham being frighteningly terrible. it definitely upped the stakes and gave the book a real bite - the gods felt like convincingly powerful and also callous beings.
cons:
- so I hated the start and middle of this book. Charlie was painful to read, Spider I loathed and Rosie frustrated me (and continued to throughout the book). I understand that there was a satisfying arc for the brothers' characters and Spider definitely got his comeuppance, but I still wanted to DNF it because i was so fed up with them.
- and the biggest part of why I hated it, and the point that was never dealt with, was how Spider raped Rosie. She never wanted sex with Charlie and she knew him and planned to marry him. Spider had sex with her under false presences (legally rape) and using his "miracle" magic on her. He influences her to go away or do as he wishes with no compunction and there's no consequences for this except him being a bit sad he lost her for a spell. She slaps him and its forgotten about. Charlie also makes little to no effort to save Rosie from getting duped and influenced by Spider and is only pissed that *he's* losing his fiancée. he gives absolutely no shits that she, a woman who would never have had sex with Charlie when she's herself, got magicked into having sex. Really disgusting
- I know this was written in 2005, but there are some horrible little asides or so called jokes. One I remember was saying something derogatory about people who see things, ie. making a mean-spirited joke of schizophrenia, another about cross-dressing, and there were many other places I winced. Gaiman says Anansi is meant to be about 'the revenge of the weak', but the book is still cruel to people already trodden on by society, and it's treatment of Rosie was shit as hell
- Gaiman also says in the interview notes at the back that it's a comic book. I found very little in it funny. There was one point I chuckled and that was it, I think. the jokes just didn't land for me.
so... very mixed feelings. Hated the start and middle, but the end was very satisfying and I stayed up late to finish it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gore, Death of parent, Body horror, Terminal illness, Murder, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Alcohol, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
I think what happens with Rosie counts as sexual assault or rape, but others may not see it that way
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